Manufacture of knitted garments



Oct 3, 6 R. s. GILCHRIST 3,

MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED GARMENTS Filed April 15, 1965 v 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

7 ATTORNEYS. V

1967 R. s. GILCHRIST 3,344,621

MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED GARMENTS Filed April 15, 1965 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

1957 R. s. GILCHRIST 3,344,621

MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED GARMENTS Filed April 15, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 wsl ATTO R NEYS.

United States Patent 3,344,621 MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED GARMENTS Reginald Selby Gilchrist, London, England, assignor to The Klinger Manufacturing Company Limited, London, England Filed Apr. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 448,532 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 22, 1964,

16,733/ 64 V 5 Claims. (Cl. 66175) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Knitted pants having a crotch section of reciprocatorily knit fabric formed by knitting two separate tubes on a circular knitting machine including the formation of a pocket of reciprocatorily knit fabric near the top thereof, slitting each pocket longitudinally and connecting the respective front end back edges to form the garment.

This invention relates to the manufacture of knitted garments.

Certain knitted garments can be made by a method of manufacture in which two separate parts of a garment are knitted so that each comprises a first portion for encircling a limb of the wearer and a second integral portion for covering a part of the wearers body, and which latter portion is formed with longitudinal marginal edges and an end edge and in which said marginal edges of one of said second portions are connected to the marginal edges of the other second portion so that at least part of the two connected second portions may encircle a part of the body of the wearer. Heretofore, in order to obtain the necessary or desired shaping of the garment at the junction between the limb portions, it has usually been considered necessary to knit and form separately 21 gusset piece and to sew a part of the gusset piece first between parts of said marginal edges of one of said second portions where it meets its first said portion, and then the other part of the gusset piece is similarly sewn between the two marginal edges of the second portion of the other garment part whereafter as indicated above the two separately knitted parts are also connected together by connecting the remaining portions of the marginal edges of one second portion to the remaining portions of the two marginal edges of the other second portion respectively.

This insertion of this gusset piece can be a troublesome operation and furthermore in some cases tends to produce a rather unsightly garment.

According to one aspect of the present invention a method as first referred to above for manufacturing a garment is characterised in that each part of the garment is so knitted and formed as to provide two lateral projections which respectively constitute extensions of said two marginal edges of said second portion and the edges of which two lateral projections on one part of the garment are connected respectively to the edges of the two lateral projections on the other part of the garment.

In one such arrangement each part of the garment is knitted on a circular knitting machine so as to form a tubular part made up of the aforesaid two portions and which knitting is so carried out as to form a bulge on the side of the tubular part at the junction between said two portions, and each of which tubular parts of the garment after knitting are longitudinally slit so that the slit extends into the bulge, and wherein the two edges formed by the slit in one tubular part of the garment are connected respectively to two edges formed by the slit in the other tubular part of the garment.

In an alternative arrangement each part of the garment can be knitted on a fiat bed knitting machine so that said garment may be fully fashioned and each said garment part is made up of said two portions, and the opposite longitudinal edges of each flat garment part are formed, at the junction between said two portions, with a lateral projection made up of two edges which converge to the summit of the projection, and each flat garment part is curled or folded upon itself so that the projections lie opposite one another and those sides of the projections nearer the first said portion are connected together as are the edges of the first said portion so as to form a tube, and the two garment parts are then joined together by connecting the remaining parts of the two edges of said second portion and the remaining edges of the two projections to the remaining parts of the two edges of the second portion of the other garment part and to the two remaining edges of the projections on that other garment part.

In the case where said garment parts are formed by a circular knitting machine, said bulge may be formed in a similar manner to that known for a picked heel in which a number of needles which have formed the second or the first portion, whichever is knitted first, are put out of action and the needle cylinder is oscillated instead of being rotated, and the number of needles then in action is progressively reduced until a minimum number of needles remain in action for at least one course, whereafter the number of needles is progressively increased until the initial conditions are reached whereupon a complete circular knitting action is reestablished whereby the bulge is produced. The circular knitting action can then continue in order to knit said first or said second portion, depending upon the order in which these portions are being knitted.

In such a method halfthe needles may initially be put out of action and the needles knitting during oscillation may progressively decrease to a minimum number depending upon the limitations of the machine or the nature of the bulge required.

During the decreasing and the increasing of the number of needles in operation, the extent of oscillation of the needle cylinder preferably remains constant.

During said oscillations, the needles in operation can be decreased andthen increased so that said bulge is knitted over an are which, for example, decreases from an arc subtending an angle of 180 degrees to an arc subtending an angle of 10 degrees, and then increases back to an arc subtending an angle of 180 degrees.

The decreasing and increasing of the number of needles in operation during the formation of the bulge can be bulge. In one embodiment of the invention the number of needles is progressively decreased from to 30 and then progressively increased back to 150.

When the garment parts are made on a circular knitting machine, the slitting of said second portion of each part of the garment is preferably extended into said knitted bulge up to the course or courses formed by the minimum number of needles.

Instead of a number of needles being brought into operation one by one in the second stage of oscillation, the full number of needles may be brought into operation after the minimum number of needles has knitted said course or courses, whereby an asymmetrical bulge is created. In such an arrangement the aforesaid slit may be carried through to the part of the bulge knitted by the minimum number of needles.

In any of the arrangements referred to above, a thicker or heavier yarn may be employed for producing said bulge.

The above method is particularly applicable to the first portion of the garment is knitted to form a leg portion and each said second portion of the garment is knitted so that when these two second portions are joined together the resulting continuous edge formed or mainly formed by said end edges is of such a size as to embrace the waist of the wearer.

A waistband, for example, of elastic, can be attached to said resulting continuous edge. Alternatively, provision can be made for a tie tape to be incorporated at or just above said resulting continuous edge.

In a garment having feet portions, the aforesaid bulges are preferably knitted on the opposite side of the leg to that from which the foot portion extends. However, said bulges can be arranged so as to protrude in a direction transverse to that in which said feet portions extend, for example, at right angles.

In any of the arrangements referred to above the various edges to be connected together may be stitched together, for example, by being passed through an overlook seaming machine. However, these various edges, or some of them, can be secured together by adhesive. Also, in some cases, particularly with fabric having poor stretch properties, edges can be connected together by a strip of material disposed between them, such edges being attached to opposite edges of the strip by sewing or adhesive: this is particularly useful in garments for children when such a strip of material can be used to connect the edges, or parts of them, at the back of the garment to increase the size of the part of the garment intended to embrace a part of the wearers body.

The garments can be knitted from wool or synthetic staple fibre yarn, but are preferably knitted from synthetic mono or multi continuous filament yarn. When the garments are knitted from the synthetic yarn, this may advantageously be crimped yarn having stretch characteristics, for example, yarn which has been textured by false twisting or stuffer box crimping, particularly nontorque yarn.

According to a particular aspect of the invention when applied to making tights, the present invention comprises knitting a pair of stockings by any conventional method and extending each stocking above the thigh portion with a heel portion formed between the thigh portion and the portion extending above the thigh, the portion of each stocking extending above the thigh then being cut longitudinally into or through said heel portion, and then the cut edges of each stocking being attached to the cut edges of the other stocking to form the pair of tights. A true heel for each stocking between the foot and the leg can be formed in any conventional manner and the said heel portion can be on the same side of the stocking as the true heel or can be displaced to one side thereof.

By way of example, the three main stages in the manufacture of a pair of tights in accordance with the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the two garment parts as first formed;

FIGURE 2 is a semi-perspective view of the parts after a slitting operation has been performed; and

FIGURE 3 is a view of the two garment parts joined together as in the finished tights.

In this preferred embodiment a circular knitting machine is employed. As will be seen from FIGURE 1 the first main stage is to knit on the circular knitting machine two tubular parts each having a said first portion which comprises a part 11 for the thigh, a part 12 for the calf, and a part 13 for the foot. Each tubular garment part also has a said second portion indicated generally at 14 and which is of such dimensions that When the two portions 14 are eventually joined they may encircle the waist and lower trunk part of the wearer. Between the leg portions 12 and 13 of each said first portion there is formed by a picked knitting process a heel 15, and a similar picked knitting process is employed for forming a bulge 16 on the same side as the heel and which picked knitting may extend around approximately half the circumference of the knitted tube being formed. The tubular garment parts are knitted from the top downwards so that the portion 14 is knitted first and the foot 13 last. After each tubular part has been knitted, the toe of the foot is closed by any of the conventional toe closing processes.

Each garment part is then wet relaxed, dyed and boarded in any of the conventional ways used for stockings. During the boarding process each garment part is pulled over a forming board having the shape of the outline of each garment part shown in FIGURE 1, and the boarded garment part can then be steamed in an autoclave to set the knitted fabric to the shape of the board.

The second main stage of manufacture, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, consists in slitting the two said second portions 14 from the top thereof down to about half the height of the bulges 16 so as to form edges 17 and 18 on one portion 14 and edges 19 and 20 on the asso ciated bulge 16, and so as to form like edges 17' and 18' on the other portion 14 and edges 20 and 19' on the other bulge 16. This slitting is carried out by cutting along the wale formed by the middle needle used in knitting each bulge 16, and the cutting is stopped at the point of the bulge knitted by the fewest number of needles.

In the third main stage of manufacture, the two garment parts are then passed through an overlocking seaming machine so as to stitch together the edges 17, 17 and 19, 19 and then the edges 20, 20' and finally the edges 18, 18, to form a pair of tights as indicated in FIGURE 3.

The tights can be finished with a Welt 20, see FIGURE 3, at the top, but preferably an elastic waistband is attached to the welt 20. Alternatively, any other supporting means, for example, a tie tape, can be associated with the welt 20.

The tights can be knitted from the same kinds of yarn as are used for womens stockings, and can be made to resemble womens stockings when worn. As mentioned previously, instead of using a circular knitting machine, the garment parts can be made by a fully fashioned process and the legs would then have a longitudinal back seam similar to that in fully fashioned stockings.

The tights can be formed without feet portions; further, they can be made with short legs and so form a kind of pantee.

The tights could form the lower part of a larger garment having, for example, a bodice part and arm parts.

If desired, a heavier denier yarn than normally used for womens stockings can be employed resulting in the production of a more substantial garment.

What is claimed is:

1. A knit garment having a tubular body encircling portion and two tubular limb encircling portions extending therefrom and a crotch section integrally knit with, and extending laterally between, the limb encircling portions, said crotch section having at least one course of knitted stitches which does not extend to another part of the garment.

2. A knitted garment for covering the wearer from at least the waist to the thighs comprising:

(A) two pieces of knitted fabric each piece including:

(a) a lower tubular portion and an upper portion concatenated to the lower portion, said upper portion having a top edge and front and rear edges extending downwardly from said top edge and merging into a lateral extension at a selected point,

(b) said lateral extension forming a crotch section extending from said selected point to said tubular portion and connected to the latter by knitted stitches, said crotch section including a plurality of knitted courses which do not extend into either the lower tubular portion or the upper portion, and

(B) means joining the front and rear edges of said upper portions of the two pieces.

3. A circular knit panty comprising:

(a) a pair of lower tubes of knitted material for encasing at least a part of each thigh of the wearer, each of said tubes having at one side of their upper portions an enlarged lateral extension formed by a plurality of courses of knitted loops, some of which courses extend only partially around said tube,

(b) means connecting said lateral extensions to form a crotch section, and

(c) an upper tube integrally connected to said lower tubes and said crotch section for encasing the body of the wearer from crotch to waist.

4. A method of manufacturing a knitted garment comprising forming two separate parts, each of said two separate parts being formed by making a first tubular portion for encircling at least a part of a limb of a wearer and a second integral portion for covering a part of the body of a wearer, said second portion having two longitudinal marginal edges, an end edge and at least one lateral projection, and connecting said two marginal edges and the edges of said lateral projection of one part of the garment respectively to said two marginal edges and the edges of said lateral projection of the other part of the garment.

5. A method of manufacturing a garment comprising knitting two tubular parts on a circular knitting machine, each said tubular part including first and second portions, and knitting a fashioned lateral extension in the side of each tubular part at the junction between said two portions; longitudinally slitting each tubular part after knitting so that the slit extends into the said lateral extension, whereby two longitudinal edges are formed; and connecting the two edges formed by the slit in one tubular part of the garment respectively to the two edges formed by the slit in the other tubular part of the garment.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 25,360 3/1963 Rice 66-177 X 2,790,315 4/1957 Isenhour 66177 3,020,556 2/1962 Isley 66- 17'7 X 3,128,475 4/1964 Rice et al. 2224 FOREIGN PATENTS 236,390 11/ 1961 Australia.

1,201,995 l/1960 France.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

R. FELDBAUM, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A KNIT GARMENT HAVING A TUBULAR BODY ENCIRCLING PORTION AND TWO TUBULAR LIMB ENCIRCLING PORTIONS EXTENDING THEREFROM AND A CROTCH SECTION INTEGRALLY KNIT WITH, AND EXTENDING LATERALLY BETWEEN, THE LIMB ENCIRCLING PORTIONS, SAID CROTCH SECTION HAVING AT LEAST ONE COURSE OF KNITTED STITCHES WHICH DOES NOT EXTEND TO ANOTHER PART OF THE GARMENT. 